At midnight, an alert was declared in Dubai due to massive missile attacks and drone attacks. On the air of “Wake up” on Nova TV, Milen Cholakov, who is in the city, talked about how the night passed and what the situation is in the United Arab Emirates at the moment.
“Around 12 o'clock in the evening we received a warning about missile attacks. We had to evacuate a little more urgently to the hotel reception. Quite a few people gathered there, but no missiles were visible in the sky”, shared Cholakov. It later became clear that attacks were carried out over the Dubai airport and the area of the “Burj Al Arab” hotel.
According to him, all missiles and drones were successfully intercepted by Dubai's air defense. “We understood that only debris hit the hotel and the airport, and the damage was minimal”, he added.
Milen Cholakov categorically denied the information that the iconic building ”Burj Khalifa” was hit. ”Currently there is a lot of misinformation on social networks - for example, that ”Burj Khalifa” was hit and that there is an emergency evacuation. This is not true. A friend was there at the exact moment this information appeared and confirmed that nothing was happening”, he emphasized. The Bulgarian urged people to get information from reliable sources, as many clips generated by artificial intelligence are currently being circulated.
As of this moment, the Bulgarian authorities have not made contact with our compatriots in Dubai. “None of the Bulgarian authorities have contacted us so far. We sent an email to the Foreign Ministry with information about where we are and when our flight is, but we only received an automatic protocol response”, explained Cholakov. He added that if an emergency evacuation was organized, they would certainly take advantage.
The airspace over Dubai remains closed, and all flights have been canceled. This has led to hotels being overcrowded with transit passengers and tourists. “Room prices are at quite high levels. Our flight is on March 3 and we have a paid hotel until then, but if the skies don't open in two days, we will have a serious problem," Cholakov added.
Despite the tension, there is no panic on the streets of Dubai. Taxis and food deliveries continue to operate, although traffic is significantly lighter than usual.